Linda Sanchez has holes in a number of her financial disclosure forms. |
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Hudson added: “In addition, although a filer can amend her FDs by simply sending the revised form or page without explanation, Congresswoman Sanchez will amend by letter, providing more detail than is required.”

Sanchez was first elected in 2002, joining her sister on Capitol Hill, and they were the first sisters to serve together in Congress. Loretta was elected to the House in 1996.

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After serving on the Judiciary Committee for the past eight years, including playing a high-profile role in the congressional probe of the 2006 U.S. attorney firings, Sanchez was recently tapped by Pelosi to replace Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) as the top Democrat on Ethics.

But Sanchez’s appointment to the committee was troubling to ethics watchdogs. POLITICO reported that Sanchez’s chief of staff, Adam Brand, is the son of Stan Brand, lead attorney in the ongoing ethics investigation of Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.). The Waters case is the most high-profile matter currently before the committee.

Brand also represented Loretta Sanchez in an ethics case involving both women. Linda Sanchez placed three staffers from her sister’s office on her payroll following an embezzlement scandal involving an aide to Loretta in 2006. The Ethics Committee reviewed the matter, but neither sister was charged with any wrongdoing.

Linda Sanchez responded to the POLITICO report by declaring that Adam Brand will have nothing to do with Ethics Committee business.

The questions over the accuracy of Sanchez’s annual financial forms — required of all members, senators and highest-paid congressional staffers — also come as the Ethics Committee has very slowly begun to prepare for the 112th Congress.

Rep. Jo Bonner (R-Ala.), chairman of the secretive panel, told POLITICO the Ethics Committee held its first organizational meeting last week.

Bonner also submitted the committee’s rules in the Congressional Record, as required under House rules.

But Bonner declined to answer any other questions, including whether the committee will continue its investigation into the Waters case. The Ethics Committee must vote to extend the probe into this Congress, and it is unclear whether there has been any agreement to do so.

Waters was charged last June with improperly intervening during the 2008 U.S. financial crisis on behalf of a minority-owned bank in which her husband owned more than $350,000 in stock. Waters vehemently denied the allegations and sought an ethics trial to contest the charges. That trial was postponed in November after more allegedly damaging information against Waters was uncovered, although sources close to the congresswoman said the delay showed the weakness in the Ethics Committee’s charges against her.

Last December, a behind-the-scenes partisan battle over the Waters case broke out inside the Ethics Committee over two investigators, Cindy Morgan Kim and Stacey Sovereign, involved in the probe. Lofgren, then-chairwoman of the committee, tried to fire the two women, but Republicans objected and the pair was placed on “indefinite administrative leave.” Kim and Sovereign were on the Ethics Committee’s payroll as of the end of January, according to the House payroll office.

Sanchez will play a critical role in deciding whether Kim or Sovereign will be retained by the committee, as well as the hiring of a new staff director for the panel. And Sanchez — or at least one other Democrat on the committee — will have to agree to continue the Waters probe in this Congress. Sanchez’s district is located next to Waters’s in Southern California.

Sanchez married James M. Sullivan in 2009. Sullivan is a former Democratic congressional candidate turned registered lobbyist and political consultant.

It is very common for members of Congress to amend their FDs [financial disclosures], especially for inadvertent oversights such as these, and Congresswoman Sanchez will amend her FDs promptly,” Hudson said in a statement to POLITICO.

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In DC speak it means we'll lie until we get caught then we may tell the truth. Yes. ethical standards at its finest and from a liberal - big surprise there.

Politico should be ashamed of itself for publishing these most likely false allegations against one of Congress' most valued Progressives. If you can't fall in and support the Democrats - go work for Faux News - we don't want to read about it here.

Another Democrat who can't keep their books straight. But, if one of us LOWLY TAXPAYERS used the same lame excuses, the IRS would seize our bank accounts and throw the book at us!!! Time for these prima donas to get the same treatment the rest of us get.

Barbara Boxer is anxious for Linda Sanchez to become ‘Senator Sanchez’ so she can pass the “Stupidest Senator" title to her.

Sorry, I have to strongly disagree. Patty Murray is the "Stupidest Senator". I know Barb Boxer tries hard, you have to hand it to her for effort. But comparing her to "Mom in Tennis Shoes", never. As far as stupid goes, you can't put in what God left out.